The Best Type of Guns for Pig Hunting in California, plus Info on Hunting Ranches and Public Lands

What is the best pig rifle or pistol?

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The Best Type of Guns for Hog Hunting

Choosing the right gun is always important when you’re dealing with dangerous game like wild pigs. The following choices are based on that premise, we believe these offer the best in terms of value and performance.

We have not included many bolt action rifles (except for one because it’s cheap). We believe a novice hunter might not to be able to get off a second shot fast enough while fumbling around with the bolt action.

I know a lot you shooters out there like the SWAT looking rifles but most of those are in .223 caliber/ NATO 5.56 caliber.

I don’t consider that sufficient enough to stop a large pig as these calibers were originally designed to do tissue damage than for stopping power.

You can thank the genius thinking of the US government during the Vietnam War for that kind of application. A wounded soldier causes more confusion and havoc within his outfit than a dead one does, is the basic idea. The original round was even designed to tumble through the flesh to inflict maximum tissue damage, but it’s very light without a lot of shock or stopping power.

But we did find AR that is a .30 caliber semiautomatic assault type weapon that looks cool, shoots fast but uses a heavy round.

Lever Action Rifles – best for the new hunter or shooter

There’s a lot of . 30 caliber lever actions out there, but we like the .444 for its longer-range and heavier brush busting bullet. We think a lever action is the safest and most effective type of action for a new hunter.

You can keep your eye on the target with your gun on your shoulder while working the action with this gun. The lever action is also more reliable than a semiautomatic action.

Marlin Model 1895 .444

The .444 in the Marlin 1895. This round was developed in this model 40 years ago. It has a maximum range to 250 yards.

If you hunt in the brush, this cartridge has a large enough projectile that won’t be affected by small twigs and brush.

Semiautomatic Assault Type Rifle

Just aim and pull the trigger, as fast as you want. But like we mentioned, we only found one that has a heavy enough caliber for pigs. The .223 caliber found in most AR are not sufficient.

Advanced Armament Corp. 300 BLK

AAC company not only made the gun that they made the caliber. It is in essence the same as the .30 caliber in size and weight. It comes with a five round capacity magazine to keep you legal for hunting. Check your state on to how large a capacity magazine you can have for home defense and target shooting

Update: Smith & Wesson now also offers a AR rifle to fire both 300 and 300AAC BLK offerings.

These AR are good to 200 yards with good stopping power.

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Manufacturer: Advanced Armament Corp.

Bolt Action Rifles –

Even experienced shooters look a little clumsy working the action rapidly. It may not be your best bet in a nerve-racking situation. But this is offset by extreme reliability in a wet and sloppy conditions especially. Also the choice of calibers is much broader.

We offer one here because it’s hundreds of dollars cheaper than the more fancy guns.

Savage 11/111 Hog Hunter

Savage 11/111 Hog Hunter .338 Winchester

Savage Arms introduced the bolt action Hog Hunter a few years back. they kept the length of the barrel short at 20 inches, and it has the plastic roughed up surface for a stock and forearm. So it’s great for the brush and hanging on in rough places in the wet. And very durable.

It has a capacity of four rounds and comes in .223 Remington, .308 Winchester, and .338 Winchester.

Savage Hog Hunter is around $500, this no frills weapon is also a lot cheaper than other bolt actions by other manufacturers.

Manufacturer: Savage Arms

Pistols

We like two pistols here, one as a backup for an archer or if you’re hunting with dogs to place a finishing shot. The other you can use for still hunting or hunting from a blind.

Glock 30 in .45 ACP

Hog hunters using dogs are confronted with situations where the shooting is close in and very hectic.

A Glock 30 sub-compact in .45 ACP works well. This is a heavy projectile for one shot kill. This is a good backup weapon for archers too.

WARNING: Note the trigger has a small secondary protrusion. This is the equivalent of a safety, and I personally detest this innovation. Too easy to grab it or catch it on something and have it go off versus a old style safety.

I believe that deceased mother when shot in Walmart by her toddler (sitting in the shopping cart with access to her purse and weapon) was using a Glock.

Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum

If you are interested in pig hunting with a pistol you need at least a .357 magnum. The bigger .44

magnum rounds fired from a longer barrel gives you greater accuracy than the smaller Glock.

If a pig is considering getting a piece of you, make sure you say “Go ahead and make my day” as soon as possible. Dirty Harry would be proud.

Manufacturer: Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.

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